Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Originally Posted by thedragonlady;4139097;

I've been watching all of the Hoarders episodes, the last ones being of the mean old woman, her poor mistreated animals and the couple with the rabbits. I'm still not sure why I watch this show but I do. I was furious, seeing those poor birds, crowded into those little cages, with so many in sickly, injured condition and the goat, with the painful injured leg that she allowed to get pregant. I do understand that it is a mental illness but there are some situations where too much "understanding or caring" is not deserved. I feel that way about Hanna (the old woman). It's obvious she is totally unaware of the harm she is causing all her animals but, to me, I wouldn't take the time to try to teach her how to change. The animals needed immediate care and removal from her. Since it's so obvious to us lay-people that she can not distinguish what is good for animals and what isn't, why bother to teach her before taking away the animals or children? She's not going to change her ways. She treated her children the same way as the animals. The best thing for her was to remove the animals and have her under serious medical care for a condition that I doubt will ever change. But until it does, she should not be allowed to have any animals. Remove those who are in danger and then treat her. I have different feelings about people who hoard/collect too much and people who allow their surrounding to become toxic with garbage, feces (human or animal), spoiled food, pests, dead animals, etc. Yes, there are degrees of mental illnesses and I think there needs to be degrees of treatment for these people. It seems like the goal of every show is to just get the house cleaned out. But there is so much more. Children and animals should immediately be removed until the person can prove, over time, that it will not happen again. I know that sounds dreadfully harsh but some mental illnesses can not be cured and I hate to see others suffer while they undergo treament. If after serious treatment, they change, then let them have the children or animals but not just because the house got cleaned up. It seems like most of the children (even though adults now) of these hoarders are severly damaged, even if they moved out. How can there be any hope for any young children left with these people? Yes, I feel bad that these people suffer from such mental conditions but I don't think it's right to condem children or animals to such a life. I keep remembering that one 7 year old little girl who was writing about commiting suicide. What 7 year old thinks about that?? Isn't it more important to save these children (and animals) before treating (if they agree to it) the hoarders?? Sorry for the rant but these are REAL people with REAL children and animals that are suffering and that bothers me a lot.

Any living being that is suffering needs to be removed from the situation and attended to. What I am saying is blanket statements condemning people for having messy homes, without understanding the situation, or knowing their back story is unnecessary and a reflection of how our society is quick to condemn. But, I would not necessarily extend that to people who are emotionally and physically harming other living beings. Not all hoarders of animals even comprehend they are hurting animals, and that is a different mindset from the woman in this episode who, as you say, seemed to enjoy inflicting harm. That's not mental illness/hoarding, it's sadism. Another issue is that animals are considered `property' under the law, not living beings, so the level of protection they receive isn't legally in the same ballpark as a person. That needs to change. Then again, we live in a society that consumes chickens kept in `hoarding' conditons via factory farming. Their lives are non stop misery, no room to move, feces everywhere, anxiety levels so high they pluck out their feathers, pluck out one another's eyes, they never ever see the light of day...To me thatis as horrible as the actions of the sadistic woman.

“If we are not being maligned, scandalizing those who still sleep in the church, then we are missing the incarnational call to love the world's most vulnerable, the world's exiled, the world's most wounded. Our concern should be what the poor and prostituted think of us, what the God of the universe thinks of us, not what those around us think of us.” Sarah Lance

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Originally Posted by libgirl2;4143896;

Any large number of animals can be a problem. I saw a show about infestations last night. This family had a problem with garter snakes. My husband said "oh those are harmless". This family was catching up to 40 a day around their home. Now that is a problem!

Infestations are a totally different issue than hoarding- aniamls in large numgbers, harmless or not, are a problem. I saw a show in which a family had an infestation of water snakes in their pool due to a hurricaine and subsequent flooding. The guy sent in to fix the problem actually fixed the situation humanely, removing the snakes and relocating them.
Garter snakes are harmless, but i don't think I'd want to have to deal with catching up to 40 a day! Yikes! That's a hazard.

“If we are not being maligned, scandalizing those who still sleep in the church, then we are missing the incarnational call to love the world's most vulnerable, the world's exiled, the world's most wounded. Our concern should be what the poor and prostituted think of us, what the God of the universe thinks of us, not what those around us think of us.” Sarah Lance

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Originally Posted by redsox girl;4144098;

Infestations are a totally different issue than hoarding- aniamls in large numgbers, harmless or not, are a problem. I saw a show in which a family had an infestation of water snakes in their pool due to a hurricaine and subsequent flooding. The guy sent in to fix the problem actually fixed the situation humanely, removing the snakes and relocating them.
Garter snakes are harmless, but i don't think I'd want to have to deal with catching up to 40 a day! Yikes! That's a hazard.

They were living in their walls too! And they can spread salmonella. Not too good!! But I digress. Hoarding is its own thing. As we have seen. Too much of anything whether be pet or collectibles is bad, add to that the filth we find in most of these homes... yikes!

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Originally Posted by redsox girl;4143883;

Thank you for standing up for rats-they are so maligned. Hamsters and gerbils are not goosd pets for children at all, as you say. They bite HARD ansd aren't easy to handle. Rats are incredibly intellegent, gentle, clean, affectionate and bond to their owners. Growing up I had a rat and like your children I was allowed to get another after the passing of the first. As an adult I actually gave talks about why rats make inredible pets for children. They are so docile and gentle and yes, sweet. Mine used to make these little happy chattering `clicks' when he saw me come into a room and he responded to his name and various commands and he liked nothing more than to curl up in a pocket, peaking out and happily viewing the world pass him by while I walked around.
But yes, about a hundred them at a time is just wrong and doesn't help those viewers who are either frightened by them or misinformed about their true nature.

So few people really know about pet rats and only think of sewer type rats.
They get a bad rep for that and not looking as cute and cuddly as hamsters but they are an ideal pet for people. One of my son's was so cute. We'd give her a whole double sided page of a newspaper and she'd drag that whole big thing into her cage, tearing it up little by little until she had made herself a comfy nest in her cage. They have great personalities!
Don't buy hamsters. They bite people, sleep all day/keep you up at night and will NOT stop until they escape their cage and they will, no matter, how well you try to keep them in.

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

Originally Posted by thedragonlady;4144835;

So few people really know about pet rats and only think of sewer type rats.
They get a bad rep for that and not looking as cute and cuddly as hamsters but they are an ideal pet for people. One of my son's was so cute. We'd give her a whole double sided page of a newspaper and she'd drag that whole big thing into her cage, tearing it up little by little until she had made herself a comfy nest in her cage. They have great personalities!

I had a rat and loved him. His name was Snoopy (black and white) but I called him Mousie. He came when called. I went to a Rats Olympics once where they did all these tricks. I really loved that guy and he was so smart he even played hide-and-seek. Sniff. I miss him. I remember coming out of summer school holding him and looking at my mom with my big blue eyes. I told her that I rescued the class pet from a kid who was sticking his tail in ink and the teacher said I could KEEP him. Lol. I was jumping up and down a bit so she gave in. She learned to love the sweet little thing. Sniff sniff.

Re: Hoarders (A&E)

I can't join the rodent love-fest...I don't like hamsters, gerbils, rats, ferrets, etc., etc. But I felt a lot of sympathy for Rat Guy. It was clear that his rats were domestic pets and that he had real feeling for them. He really seemed like a lovely person who just lost his way after his wife passed. I'm hoping for his continued recovery. As far as I could tell, the rats were the only thing he "hoarded" - there didn't appear to be an excess of stuff in his house or office.

Cat Lady was so unlikeable I have a hard time wondering about her future. I think her father would be doing her a huge favour if he went ahead and evicted her, and forced her to be responsible for her own life.

All my life, I have felt destiny tugging at my sleeve.~ Thursday NextI don't want to "go with the flow". The flow just washes you down the drain. I want to fight the flow.- Henry RollinsAll this spiritual talk is great and everything...but at the end of the day, there's nothing like a pair of skinny jeans. - Jillian Michaels